Barcelona win El Clasico in basketball

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) – Barcelona on Thursday won El Clasico in a basketball clash, beating their bitter rivals Real Madrid 75-73 in a Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Round 2 game at home.

Barca trio Sertac Sanli, Jan Vesely and Tomas Satoransky were quite balanced in scoring.

Turkish center Sanli led his team, producing 14 points.

Czech center Vesely racked up 13 points, and his compatriot Satoransky added 12 points for Barcelona at the Palau Blaugrana.

Argentine forward Gabriel Deck was Real Madrid’s and the game’s highest scorer with 21 points.

Real Madrid’s French forward Petr Cornelie added 12 points. Deck and Cornelie were the sole Real Madrid players to score in the double digits.

Barcelona took their first win of the 2022-23 EuroLeague campaign. Real Madrid were handed their first loss of the season.

Separately, back-to-back EuroLeague champions Anadolu Efes from Türkiye lost to Monaco 95-92 in France despite Will Clyburn and Vasilije Micic’s efforts.

Clyburn scored 28 points against Monaco, while Micic bagged 20 points for Anadolu Efes.

Mike James led Monaco as the US guard scored 19 points at Salle Gaston Medecin.

Alpha Diallo scored 15 points, and Monaco pair Adrien Moerman and Donatas Motiejunas clocked 14 points each.

Leaders Monaco have a 2-0 win/loss record. Anadolu Efes are going 1-1.

- Thursday’s results:

Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade – Panathinaikos: 75-77

Monaco – Anadolu Efes: 95-92

Virtus Segafredo Bologna – Bayern Munich: 66-63

Barcelona – Real Madrid: 75-73